How you see it, now you don’t!

[here’s an article I’ve just written for Skicology’s sister business Headstuff. I thought I’d reproduce it here as it’s so relevant to skiing]

Yesterday, I was listening to local band The Buskers playing a gig in Les Gets. They were sounding really great. And pretty much everyone would assume that that audience was hearing exactly the same thing. However, what was happening was everyone was creating their own experience in the moment, not the sound of the band.

For example, did you know that your eyes see the world upside-down? The brain processes the image and ‘right’s’ it. It also picks up on the elements that seem important to you. It generalises, and it (you) ignores a bunch of stuff.

As neuro-scientists describe it, we re-create (not create) what we see. And what we hear too. We never hear the other person. We only hear what we think we hear.

For example, a frequent experience I have with my clients is when they say “it’s like what you said earlier…”, and then repeat what they think I said. Or rather what they think they heard. And I’m thinking I never said that (it’s true – I have the recordings!). I never actually said what they’re saying.

We hear what we want to hear. Or rather we are ‘re-creating’ what we hear.

Have you ever read something in a book or text message, and then looked back and can’t find it? Yep, me too. And I’d swear blind that I read it!

And whatever you have on your mind at that moment, that’s what you’ll think, see, hear and feel. Your 5 senses kick in to back this up and make it a really vivid experience!

Or put another way, have you ever bought a car thinking that no-one has one of these models, only to find that when you’re driving around in your new car you see them everywhere! I have a rare four-wheel drive VW Golf and only a few thousand were ever sold, but I see them often!

As Garret Kramer put it in an article yesterday: The same environment (person, circumstances) will be viewed differently based on what’s momentarily happening behind the scenes in the head of the person.

So if you’re stuck, or can’t see a way forward, or feeling agitated, remember it’s not what you’re seeing, hearing or feeling that’s important – although it very much looks that way. All this is a reflection of how you’re seeing, hearing and feeling it at that moment. And it will change momentarily.

You don’t have to be new skier to be nervous or fearful. I’ve seen experienced skiers, including competition skiers and ski professionals become fearful and nervous. So this week I’ve been doing research in to Read more…